Act 1, Scene 2, Part 2 Summary

Doaker says that the history of the piano goes back to the days of slavery, when the Sutter family owned their family. Robert Sutter, who was the grandfather of the Sutter that just died, gave a family named Nolander two slaves for the piano, which his wife Ophelia desperately wanted. The traded slaves, Doaker's grandmother and father, were Ophelia's favorites and after a while she wanted them back, but Nolander wouldn't return them. Sutter then told Doaker's grandfather, an expert woodcarver who had remained with the Sutter family, to carve their likenesses into the legs of the piano so that Ophelia would still have them around. Doaker's grandfather carved not only those two slaves, but also several generations of his family. Robert became angry, but Ophelia was delighted.